


You Call Yourself Human?

by Parspicle



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Human AU, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Magical Boy AU, Nightmare is homura, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Time Travel, pov - Nightmare, uhhh Ink's madoka.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2020-09-27 12:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parspicle/pseuds/Parspicle
Summary: A Madoka Magica au. It contains spoilers for the entire anime (and potentially the movie!)





	1. We understood nothing at all. Not what it meant to wish for a miracle... nor its price.

Nightmare stared at the calendar on the board. Right, today was the day- he’d get to go back to school, meet people again, and start over. For the third time. His doctors said he’d be okay for everything, but Nightmare didn’t feel okay. He’d have to go to the nurse’s, but that’s not how horrid he felt. He wanted to throw up his lungs and stomach and everything in his chest- maybe it would be a good idea to fuck up his heart again.

But, alas, he couldn’t. He sighed, getting up and out of bed, walking to his closet and pulling out the school’s uniform. A white, short-sleeved button-up shirt, long black dress pants, all tied together with a tie or bowtie of the wearer’s choice.

He spent around ten minutes trying to figure out how to tie his stupid purple tie.

Eventually, he got to school. Late. He went to the front office, and the nice lady pointed him to his classroom, smiling and welcoming him, congratulating him on getting better.

He knocked on the door.

The eccentric teacher, who he learned was named Gaster, welcomed him cheerily and asked him to stay in the hallway for a couple of moments. He heard shouts about eggs and yolks, or some other thing.

After said couple moments, the door was pulled open for him to step through. He walked to the front of the class, head down, feeling all the eyes crawl along his skin.

The teacher’s voice was loud and booming but in a gentlemanly, sort of noble way. “Students, this is Nightmare, who is recovering from some sort of heart disease, correct? You’ve been in the hospital for how many months now?”

Nightmare didn’t respond for a moment, staring back at one of the people who had locked eyes with him- a tan, white-haired boy, head half-shaved with patterns in the side, (was that allowed?) with weird, wide eyes. He had some parts of his skin that were paler- vitiligo?

He wouldn’t stop staring. Nightmare came to his senses after hearing the guy next to the white-haired student laugh a little.

“Oh- uh, yes… And around, uh, maybe… a year?”

“Goodness, that’s quite a long time. You have to go to the nurse’s at every break, right? So you should probably sit next to Ink there- he’s the nurse’s aide- he can take you there! He can also help you catch up with homework if you need.”

The white-haired boy waved, smiling brightly.

_Oh dear god, I’m going to die._

“So, Nightmare, that’s your name, right?”

Nightmare nodded.

“That’s a cool name! Better than being named after what you did on your first day in foster care, that’s for sure! Where do you come from?”

“I uh- I lived up north a little more.”

“Oh, that’s cool! You probably didn’t go to the schools around here, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Not very talkative, are you?”

_Who was this guy?! He’s judging me around an hour into knowing me, and he’s saying that I’m not _ ** _talkative??_ **

“I don’t mean that as a bad thing! People tell me I talk too much!”

_You do._

Ink stopped as if he could hear the new kid’s thoughts. He spun around, arms crossed, and walked up to Nightmare, getting close to his face and leaning down to his face. Surprisingly, Ink was taller.

“Hey.” Ink’s breath was warm. “You don’t think I’m annoying, do you? I mean, most people do, and you’ve only known me for a few hours. What do you think?” Ink smelled like drying paint on a summer’s day after a long day of work. Was that too specific? Nightmare slunk black into the wall, trying to get away from the intimidating nurse’s aide.

“I mean, uh, maybe?”

“What do you mean ‘maybe’? It’s a yes or no question.”

“I, um, don’t know…?”

“That’s not an answer.”

Nightmare felt his face heat up as Ink turned suddenly and started walking again.

“Just kidding! I know I’m annoying.”

“Wh…”

“C’mon, new kid! Let’s go!” Ink had already forgotten the boy’s name.

Nightmare walked home. Or, at least, tried. He got teased in PE for almost passing out halfway through the warm-up. He did horribly in Math,

Science, and even his best subject, English.

He strayed off his path.

_You should just kill yourself._

He stopped, and looked around. Nobody.

_Nobody would care if you just disappeared, anyway._

“You’re… right.”

_There’s a place near here that’s good for that._

Nightmare’s vision shifted. He felt like his fibers were being torn apart and put back together, like a puzzle being rearranged and broken over and over. Like a painter trying to get their style right, or a writer changing the phrasing of words.

“That’s… a good… idea…”

He blinked, and in an instant, everything changed. The textures changed, and the world became darker.

_Oh god, what have I done?_

A large figure sprung out from the floor, towering over Nightmare. Its shapes spun and flew, threatening to cut Nightmare’s head off at any moment. He fell onto the floor, unable to scream, just wallowing in his thoughts.  
“**_Watch out!_**”

A streak of rainbow light struck through the air, like a lightning bolt through a thunderstorm, shattering the cage of dark feelings. Nightmare blinked, turning around, taking in the huge, ever-expanding world. In a halo of light, illuminating a pair of elegantly-dressed boys. Their hair was pinned up in just the right way, complimenting their faces, which were lit up with smiles. There were layers- oh, _so_ many layers- of cloth and shining fabric.

One held a gun- a rifle, maybe?- in each gloved hand, ornately designed and engraved. Metal twisted around the barrels, branching off into leaves and spirals. His clothes were flowing and pretty, tightly clutching around his chest. He wore bright blue boots, cutting off right below the knee, also with fancy twists and turns. Striped, thin leggings climbed his legs. A skirt-like cape fell to around his knees, matching the small cloth tied around his neck and brown beret, tilting to the side of his head.

The other held a giant staff, ending in what looked like the end of a paintbrush. It had the same design as the rifles, twists and turns and all. His chest and abdomen had cloth seizing his body similarly to how his companion’s own shirt did, mostly because of the buttons on the asymmetric vest. His fluffy white hair soared and bounced light everywhere. He glittered with pride, his smile mischievous, and his eyes lighting up in glee. Pale patches of skin set ablaze his cheeks.

_Ink._


	2. The start of the loops.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare wakes up, and a certain catty boy is introduced.

Ink reached upwards, cradling Nightmare’s face in his hand. He managed to smile at the boy. “Nightmare,” he coughed, “Promise me- promise me you’ll live on. The future relies on you. You have to keep fighting. For me.”

Nightmare grasped his hand, desperate for him to stay. “No, wait, Ink, don’t go! You can’t… you can’t just leave me! What about all the things you promised!?

“I’m… sorry, Nightmare.”

Ink’s eyes closed, sealing his fate with one, final breath.

Nightmare stood up, desperate to pay back the person who saved him. “Kyubey!”

The creature popped up. “Yes?”

“I know what I want now. I want- I wish to be able to save Ink!”

“Oh my, that’s quite a wish.”

“Give me the ability to save him!”

“As you wish.”

Soon enough, Nightmare woke up in a bed.

A _hospital_ bed.

He looked around frantically, gasping for breath.

Nightmare glanced at the calendar on the board. Right, today was the day- he’d get to go back to school, meet people again, and start over. For the third time. His doctors said he’d be okay for everything, but Nightmare didn’t feel okay. He’d have to go to the nurse’s, but that’s not how horrid he felt. He wanted to throw up his lungs and stomach and everything in his chest- maybe it would be a good idea to fuck up his heart again.

Today was yesterday.  
_Woah, what the fuck?_

Nightmare blinked, rubbing his eyes.

_Was that… a drea… _

His eyes landed on his hand.

A silver ring, etched with a mysterious language, with a sparkling, bright purple jewel embedded on it, sat on his middle finger.

He screeched and fell off the bed.

_Okay, not a dream. What do I do? Find Ink?_

“…Find Ink.”

Nightmare brightened- He could finally fight with them- with _him._

The newly-magical boy stood in front of the class, scanning the room for his friends. _Do they remember?_

Once he spotted Ink, after he introduced himself, he ran over, taking up the other boy’s hands in his own, eyes sparkling as others stared.

“Ink, I’m a magical boy now! And we’re gonna fight together, and we’re going to defeat witches!”

Ink glanced from side to side, watching his friends hold back a laugh, and, at classmates giggling, he avoided eye contact. His cheeks grew hot and colorful.

“Ah- Ink, have you and Nightmare already met?”

The cat-like, sorta glitchy magical boy, hidden just out of sight, watched the ones previously introduced. He removed his mask, gazing as the purple one grabbed a golf club and destroyed an empty oil barrel.

Though, something oddly curious happened.

The boy disappeared and reappeared in a different place. Multiple times.

“Oh, how peculiar.”

After a moment, the boy with the amethyst-like gem collapsed onto the floor.

The blue and rainbow ones looked at it. The rainbow one— Error’s non-mutual nemesis, Ink— marched around it.

“Woah, so, Nightmare, you’re like, a teleporter? That’s so fucking cool-“

Blue sighed, “Ink, no- He stopped time.”

“Oh shit! That’s even _cooler._”

_The purple one is Nightmare? That’s odd. This whole group is odd. _Error's tail curled up slightly, watching the trio with immense interest.

Nightmare sat on the floor, catching his breath.

“Good job, Nightmare- You show quite some promise- Must have been a pretty powerful wish, eh?”

Nightmare nodded.

“Well, we’ll be happy to fight with you!”

“The more the merrier!” Ink chirped.


End file.
